OKLAHOMA CITY: Thirty-one thoughts for 31 points from Kyrie Irving in a stunning 114-104 win over the best team in the Western Conference...

1. Mike Brown warned them what was coming, but Luol Deng and Spencer Hawes already knew it. Brown was squeezing as many precious minutes out of his red-hot bench as long as he could, but he finally started to relent and go back to his starters midway through the fourth quarter.

OKLAHOMA CITY: Just when they were left for dead, just when the season looked lost, the Cavaliers came up with their most stunning victory of the season.

Kyrie Irving had 31 points and nine assists, Spencer Hawes had 19 points and the Cavs received seven critical minutes from their bench in the fourth quarter to shock the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday 114-104. The Cavs ended their three-game losing streak and pulled within four games of the final spot in the playoffs while handing the Thunder just their sixth home loss of the season.

CLEVELAND: Fifteen thoughts for 15 points from Spencer Hawes in his first start for the Cavs in what was a 99-93 loss to the Toronto Raptors…

1. I thought this year would be different, but it’s not. Every year around this time, I hit the wall. Then the wall falls on me. It’s tough writing about losses, injuries and missed playoff hopes year after year.

CLEVELAND: Fifteen thoughts for 15 points from Kyrie Irving in a 96-83 loss to the Wizards that dropped the Cavs five games out of the postseason race…

1. It’s hard to pound on the Cavs for losing these games considering they’re playing without three cogs in the machine. They’re missing their leading rebounder in Anderson Varejao, their best 3-point shooter in C.J. Miles and their third-leading scorer in Dion Waiters. Any team would have difficulty overcoming those personnel losses.

CLEVELAND: The Cavs scored just 11 points in the fourth quarter and 31 in the second half in falling to the Washington Wizards on Sunday 96-83. It was their second consecutive loss and they were again forced to play without Dion Waiters, C.J. Miles and Anderson Varejao.

Their absences were felt offensively, particularly in the second half. The Cavs were within 78-74 following an Anthony Bennett dunk early in the fourth quarter, but they managed just one other basket for the next nine minutes. The Cavs made 2 of their first 14 shots in the fourth quarter and turned the ball over six times before a short jumper from Luol Deng finally ended the ineptness. By then, the Wizards’ lead had swelled to 14.

TORONTO: The Raptors scored 37 points in the third quarter and the Cavaliers’ short-handed perimeter players struggled through lousy shooting nights in a 98-91 loss to the Toronto Raptors on Friday, ending the Cavs’ six-game winning streak.

Kyrie Irving had 17 points and nine assists and Spencer Hawes had seven points and 10 rebounds in his Cavaliers debut, but Irving, Jarrett Jack, Luol Deng and Matthew Dellavedova combined to shoot 14-for-47 on a night the Cavs were without Anderson Varejao (back), Dion Waiters (knee) and C.J. Miles (ankle). All of the personnel losses forced Jack and Irving to play more than 40 minutes.

TORONTO: Spencer Hawes knew Thursday was his final day in Philadelphia, but he was still surprised to learn he was headed to Cleveland. Hawes’ name was one of the most mentioned this season in trade rumors, but he never saw the Cavs in the list of potential suitors.

Still, he was excited to leave the second-worst team in the league and join a playoff contender for the final two months of the season. The Cavs acquired Hawes in a trade Thursday with the Sixers, then he hopped a flight to Toronto and met up with his new team just in time to go to bed.

The Cavaliers have acquired center Spencer Hawes from the Philadelphia 76ers for Earl Clark, Henry Sims and a pair of second-round picks, a league source confirmed to the Beacon Journal. The 7-foot-1 Hawes is in the final year of a deal paying him $6.5 million. He is averaging 13 points and 8.5 rebounds this season, both career highs, in his seventh year in the league.

It was the only move the Cavs made on a day filled with plenty of rumors, but little action. The Cavs had shopped Tyler Zeller for the last few days, a league source told the Beacon Journal, and engaged the Los Angeles Clippers in a deal involving Reggie Bullock. But the deal fell through. The Cavs also had talks with the Washington Wizards on a deal involving Luol Deng and Trevor Ariza, but talks didn’t get far.

CLEVELAND: Seventeen thoughts for 17 points from Luol Deng in what could’ve been his final game with the Cavs in a 101-93 win over the Magic, their sixth straight victory…

1. Connect the dots with me: Herb Rudoy is Luol Deng’s agent. Rudoy was Zydrunas Ilgauskas’ agent. Chris Grant hired Ilgauskas to be his special assistant and teach him the ways of an NBA front office. Grant had a nice working relationship with Rudoy. Grant was fired two weeks ago.

CLEVELAND: The Cavaliers squandered nearly all of a 21-point lead in the third quarter before holding on to beat the Orlando Magic 101-93 Wednesday for their sixth consecutive victory.

Kyrie Irving had 22 points, seven rebounds and seven assists, Tristan Thompson had 16 points and 14 rebounds and Luol Deng had 17 points for the Cavs. They enjoyed a 62-41 lead early in the third on a jumper from Deng, but the Magic methodically chopped the lead to 72-70 on a basket from Victor Oladipo in the first minute of the fourth quarter. They again pulled within 89-87 on a three-point play from Arron Afflalo with 2:07 left, but Tyler Zeller rebounded a miss on the Cavs’ ensuing possession and converted his own three-point play to extend the lead back to five.

With the NBA’s trade deadline two days away, the Cavaliers have shown interest in acquiring the rights of point guard Pierre Jackson, among other deals, league sources told the Akron Beacon Journal.

Jackson is a 5-foot-10 guard out of Baylor who is now caught in limbo in the Development League. Jackson was drafted in the second round last year by the Philadelphia 76ers and traded to the New Orleans Pelicans. The Pelicans never signed him, but still possess his draft rights.

NEW ORLEANS: He stood on the court with a boyish grin and the trophy in his hands, unsure of what to do next. So in an ironic twist, it was the old Cavs’ star instructing the new one how to react to winning his first All-Star MVP award.

Kyrie Irving had 31 points and 14 assists, including 15 points in the fourth quarter to become the second-youngest player to ever win the MVP award Sunday in the East’s 163-155 comeback victory.

NEW ORLEANS: Dion Waiters had a message to the Knicks’ Tim Hardaway Jr. As a result, the two young guards put on a memorable shooting display in Team Hill’s 142-136 victory in Friday’s Rising Stars game.

Waiters had 31 points and seven assists for the winning team, including 23 in the second half. But he missed out on the game MVP award because his teammate, the Detroit Pistons’ Andre Drummond, had 30 points and 25 rebounds.

DETROIT: Fourteen thoughts for 14 fourth-quarter points from Tristan Thompson in Wednesday’s 93-89 come-from-behind win against the Detroit Pistons in the final game before the All-Star break…

1. In the days after my story from Houston posted last week, when players were complaining about each other, complaining about Mike Brown and his coaching staff and complaining about everything to do with the Cavaliers, one team executive told me, “now that all the bulls--- is out of the way, we can get back to playing basketball.”

DETROIT: It has been nearly four years and two coaching changes, but the Cavaliers finally have a four-game winning streak.

Tristan Thompson had a pair of putback dunks in the final 90 seconds and Kyrie Irving’s 3-pointer at the shot-clock buzzer gave the Cavs a 93-89 victory Wednesday over the Detroit Pistons in a game they trailed most of the night.

1. When Anthony Bennett was at his lowest point about a month ago, Mike Brown sent him to the end of the Cavs’ bench and left him there. Amid cries both publicly and in the media to send Bennett to the Development League, the Cavs stuck with him and gave Bennett two weeks to clear his head and rebuild his game in practice.

CLEVELAND: Anthony Bennett had his first double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds and the Cavs avenged a 44-point loss last month at Sacramento with a 109-99 win Tuesday against the Kings.

The Cavs controlled the majority of the night and kept the lead around double figures most of the final three quarters. They have won three straight to equal their longest winning streak of the season and the longest of the last four seasons.

1. When Dion Waiters missed the heave at the end of regulation, Kyrie Irving walked up behind him and rubbed the back of his head. The two young guards, struggling for so long to find any sort of rhythm, have looked the last two games like they can dance together after all.

CLEVELAND: Kyrie Irving had 28 points, Anderson Varejao had 14 rebounds and the Cavs beat the Memphis Grizzlies in overtime Sunday 91-83, the first time they’ve won consecutive games in a month.

The Cavs once led by 14, but were playing from behind in the final minutes of regulation. Irving’s driving basket while falling tied the game at 78, but he missed the ensuing free throw and the Grizzlies couldn’t get a shot off at the other end when Zach Randolph turned the ball over in the final seconds.

WASHINGTON: Seventeen thoughts, one for each victory this season, following a 115-113 win over the Washington Wizards Friday at Verizon Center…

1. Something struck me as soon as I walked into the Cavs’ locker room tonight after the game. Guys were laughing, joking and smiling with each other. For the past couple of weeks, it has been mostly scowls. “Winning cures all,” Luol Deng said. But that’s not entirely accurate. It couldn’t cure the stomach flu he battled all day and prevented him from playing.

WASHINGTON: Kyrie Irving had 23 points and 12 assists and Dion Waiters had 24 points off the bench as the Cavs ended a six-game losing streak with a 115-113 victory Friday at the Washington Wizards in the first game following the firing of former general manager Chris Grant.

The Cavs played inspired offensively and did a decent job of defending in the second half. Irving, who missed the morning shootaround because he wasn’t feeling well, had 12 points and 10 assists at halftime. He left late in the third quarter with a sore ankle and briefly headed for the locker room to get his ankle stretched, but returned to finish a game the Cavs controlled throughout much of the fourth quarter until the final minute. Jarrett Jack missed a pair of free throws in the final seconds, giving the Wiz a chance to tie on a long inbounds pass with two-tenths left. But Nene’s over-the-head heave at the buzzer had little chance.

INDEPENDENCE: The Cavaliers fired General Manager Chris Grant on Thursday afternoon one day after an embarrassing loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, the team confirmed.

The Cavs were 80-199 under Grant, who had the difficult task of rebuilding the franchise after the departure of LeBron James in the summer of 2010. That .287 winning percentage is the lowest in the NBA during that time.

CLEVELAND: The Lakers started with eight healthy bodies and finished with five, but had little trouble humiliating the Cavaliers on Wednesday with a 119-108 victory.

The Lakers were without Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Steve Nash, among others, but made 18 3-pointers, shot 53 percent and led by as many as 29 before a furious fourth-quarter Cavs rally. The Lakers ended a seven-game losing streak and had lost 19 of their last 22 games, but began Wednesday making their first six 3-pointers to effectively put the game out of reach by the end of the first quarter when they led 36-17.

DALLAS: A trip that began with a humiliating loss at New York ended with a more competitive 124-107 loss at the Dallas Mavericks on Monday. For a team that has endured the type of week the Cavs just did, that qualifies as progress.

It certainly doesn’t help fading playoff aspirations, which seem to drift farther away with every defeat. The Cavs have now lost five straight and seven of their last eight, falling to the Mavericks for the second time in two weeks. Whereas the first loss to the Mavs sent this team tumbling down the woeful Eastern Conference, the Cavs returned home early Tuesday morning at least feeling good about how they competed in Texas losses to the Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks. Included in that progress is Anthony Bennett, who played more minutes off the bench than any reserve and finished in double figures for the second time in four games.

1. I’ve kind of had a knot in my stomach since filing that story last night on the strife in the Cavs’ locker room. I ended last night’s Thoughts by writing this stuff isn’t fun for me and it’s not. You spend enough time around people, get to know them a little bit and you grow to admire and respect them. I’m not talking specifically about the players, but people throughout the organization. One of the hardest things to do, then, is set their building on fire.

HOUSTON: Thirteen thoughts following a 106-92 loss to the Houston Rockets…

1. I’ve been slowly hearing more and more things about the Cavs’ locker room over the past few weeks, and some of that information escalated following my column on Kyrie Irving last Sunday. Other players, who before would only roll their eyes and shake their head when his name was mentioned, began opening up a little more.